KEVIN BLACKISTONE - AROUND THE HORN
October 31, 2007
If anyone watched Around The Horn on Tuesday afternoon (October 30th, 2007) on ESPN and doesn’t think that sports columnist Kevin Blackistone should be committed to a mental institution, then maybe they should see a phychiatrist.
Blackistone, a former reporter and columnist for the Dallas Morning News from 1986 to 2006, is a regular panelist for ESPN’s Around The Horn.
Tuesday afternoon Blackistone made one of the most bizarre comments I have ever heard in my life. He said that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is by far better than future Hall-of Famer Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers.
Blackistone must’ve reverted to his old ways of making ridiculous and dumbfounded statements. Probably the same stuff that got him released from the Morning News in September 2006. Blackistone was one of 111 journalists to accept a buyout offer from The News ending a turbulent 20-year relationship.
The only thing that Favre and Romo have in common is the fact that both their teams are in first place in their divisions with a 6-1 mark, which are the best records in the NFC to date.
The rest of the conversation is all about Favre. Romo, who signed a 6-year, $67 million deal that includes $30 million in guaranteed money, couldn’t hold Favre’s jockstrap.
Favre is the only three-time MVP in the history of the National Football League. Favre has made two appearances in the Super Bowl, winning one in 1996 against the New England Patriots.
Favre holds numerous NFL records. The most impressive one is his string of 248 straight regular season games starting at quarterback. Favre also has started all 20 playoff games for the Packers during his 16 years with the Packers.
Favre has won the most games in the NFL as a quarterback at 153. He holds the record for most touchdown in the history of the NFL with 425 and counting. Favre is first in attempts (8,497) and completions (5,202) and second in passing yards with 59,546.
Favre trails Marino by 1,816 yards for the most in NFL history. If Favre continues his stellar play, that record will also bear his name by the end of the season.
Favre’s reminded everyone in the league Monday night that he still has a cannon as he launched a 82-yard bomb to Greg Jennings as the Pack beat the Broncos, 19-13, in overtime.
I could write on about all the accomplishments of Favre but I have to go to work in 10 hours.
Now onto the most over-paid quarterback in the NFL, Tony Romo.
Romo has started a whopping 17 straight games in his NFL career. He has started one playoff game, a 21-20 loss to the Seahawks last season in Seattle.
Romo has won 12 regular season games. Romo has thrown 35 touchdown passes. He has attempted 576 passes, completing 370 for 4,887 yards.
Romo made one Pro-Bowl which was absolutely a joke last season.
Blackistone, if Romo is so much better than Favre let me remind you of one thing. Superstar quarterbacks do not hold for extra point and field goals, something Romo did last year and not very good.
I don’t see Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb, and the rest of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL holding for the kicker.
To bad Martin Gramatica didn’t kick and break Romo’s finger on that botched field goal attempt last year in the playoffs. Jerry Jones would have an extra $67 million in his pocket and you wouldn’t have put your foot in your mouth again.
Blackistone, I’m hoping for enough feedback to come back from across the country that think you are an idiot for your latest blunder in the national spotlight.
Around the Horn, if your listening, dump Blackistone just like the Dallas Morning News did last year and give someone else a shot at the big time as an columnist for your show.
NFL POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 8
October 30, 2007
The Green Bay Packers are for real this year. If it wouldn’t have been for a bad call against the Chicago Bears, the Packers would be undefeated along with the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots.
The Packers looked impressive Monday night as they beat the Denver Broncos, 19-13, in overtime to improve to 6-1 on the year. Tha Packers, who are tied with the Dallas Cowboys for the best record in the NFC, lead the Detroit Lions by one game in the NFC North.
Brett Favre was magical again on MNF as he connected on a 82-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings on the first play in overtime. Jennings got behind Broncos cornerback Dre’ Bly and cruised into the end zone as Favre rushed to celebrate Green Bay’s first 6-1 start in five years.
Favre’s bomb to Jennings was the second longest touchdown pass in overtime in the history of the NFL. Philadelphia Eagles quartback Ron Jaworski connected on a 99-yard touchdown pass to Eagles wideout Mike Quick in a game played on Nov. 10, 1985.
Some people have said that Favre has lost some zip on his passes the last couple of years. The Broncos definitely are thinking different as Favre won for the 18th time on MNF during his stellar career.
The Monday night stage has provided some of the best moments in Favre’s career, from the incredible game in Oakland following the death of his father, to his game-winner to Antonio Freeman in overtime against Minnesota.
This one may top the list for Favre who throw for 331 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Favre ranks second on MNF in passing yards (7,878) and touchdown passes (56).
It was Green Bay’s first overtime road win in almost 24 years. The last time the Packers won in overtime was in Tampa Bay on Dec. 12, 1983. It was the Packers first win in six trips to Denver.
Favre is now 6-1 for the third time in his career.
In 1996, the year the Packers won the Super Bowl they started out 6-1. The only other time Green Bay started 6-1 in Favre’s career was in 2002, when they lost to Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs at Lambeau Field. It was Green Bay’s first home playoff loss in franchise history.
Favre has a chance to join Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the only quarterback to beat every team in the league next week when the Pack travel to Kansas City. Favre has never beaten the Chiefs in his career.
1. Indianapolis (7-0), 2. New England (8-0), 3. Green Bay (6-1), 4. Dallas (6-1), 5. Pittsburgh (5-2), 6. New York Giants (6-2), 7. San Diego (4-3), 8. Tennessee (5-2), 9. Jacksonville (5-2), 10. Detroit (5-2), 11. Washington (4-3), 12. Baltimore (4-3), 13. Seattle (4-3), 14. Cleveland (4-3), 15. Tampa Bay (4-4), 16. Carolina (4-3), 17. Kansas City (4-3), 18. Philadelphia (3-4), 19. New Orleans (3-4), 20. Denver (3-4), 21. Chicago (3-5), 22. Arizona (3-4), 23. Buffalo (3-4), 24. Minnesota (2-5), 25. Houston (3-5), 26. Cincinnati (2-5), 27. Oakland (2-5), 28. San Francisco (2-5), 29. Atlanta (1-6), 30. New York Jets (1-7), 31. St. Louis (0-8), 32. Miami (0-8).
JOHNSON PUTS HEAT ON GORDON WITH 3 RACES LEFT.
October 29, 2007
Jimmie Johnson pulled a magic trick Sunday as he won the Pep Boys Auto 500 with brilliant pit strategy late in the race.
A two-tire stop paid of with a victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, making the Chase a virtual dead heat at the top between the reigning champion and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and friend.
Johnson and Gordon, who came into the Pep Boys Auto 500 separated by 53 points, struggled with the handling on their Chevrolets most of the day. But, thanks to a wild finish, they wound up first and seventh, leaving four-time champion Gordon with a nine-point lead with three of the 10 Chase races remaining.
With all the leaders concerned about running out of gas, rookie Johnny Sauter’s blown tire brought out the 11th of a track record 12 caution flags on the 318th of a scheduled 325 laps on the 1½-mile suburban Atlanta oval.
Denny Hamlin, who had been running sixth, was the only leader who stayed on track, taking the lead. The others pitted and Johnson jumped from fifth to second as crew chief Chad Knaus made a late decision to change only two tires.
The race restarted on Lap 323, but Hamlin ran out of gas on the restart and cars began dodging everywhere to try to miss him and each other. Martin Truex Jr., who had one of the best cars all day, wound up slamming into the rear of Hamlin and the caution waved again.
That left Johnson, who barely dodged Hamlin’s slow car, in the lead, with Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. right behind and set up a two-lap overtime.
The race resumed on Lap 328 and, before the leaders made it through the first turn, something snapped in the rear of Earnhardt’s car, sending him spinning into the wall. He collected Jamie McMurray, who had been running fifth, and the race ended under yellow with Johnson picking up his eighth win of the season and second in a row.
Johnson didn’t have the best car Sunday in Atlanta but crew chief Chad Knaus’ decision to take two tires instead of four turned out to be the right decision.
“When that caution came out, we knew we didn’t have a car capable of winning the race,” Knaus said. “But, usually late in the race when cautions do come out, cautions breed cautions so track position was going to be important.
Gordon, who saw his lead almost disappear, said the pressure is on even more heading into next Sunday’s race at Texas.
“I feel like we’ve got the team and the equipment to do it, but those guys are tough and they’re showing it every weekend,” Gordon said. “All I’m focusing right now is trying not to have the bad day and, for a while, it looked like today was going to be the bad day.
“We struggled there for a while and, to come back and finish seventh, it was a great day, even though Jimmie won.”
Johnson and his team owner Rick Hendrick donated all their winning from the Pep Boys Auto 500 to the American Red Cross relief fund for the wildfire relief effort in his native California, along with matching donations promised by several other NASCAR organizations.
With three races left (Texas, Phoenix, and Miami) in the chase for the Nextel Cup, I’m taking Jimmie Johnson to successfully defend his Nextel Cup championship.
Its a shame that Jeff Gordon, who has dominated the Nextel Cup circuit all year, will have to wait until next year for a shot at his fifth career championship in NASCAR.
Look at the bright side Gordon lovers’, at least Jeff will get to hoist a championship trophy this year in Miami. Unfortunately for the Rainbow Warrior (I could use a better term) he will be hoisting the Nextel Cup trophy only because he is a part owner of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet and 2007 champion, Jimmie Johnson.
PATRIOTS AND COLTS TUNEUP FOR AFC SHOWDOWN
October 28, 2007
The Indianapolis Colts shook off a slow start Sunday afternoon as they destroyed the Carolina Panthers, 31-7, in front of a sellout crowd at Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte.
Peyton Manning set a franchise record as the Colts moved to 7-0 again. The Colts became the first team since the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers to win their first seven games for three straight seasons.
Things will be much tougher for the Colts next week as they host the New England Patriots in a national televised game on CBS. Kickoff for the game is slated for 4:15 pm Eastern time from the RCA Dome.
“Everybody’s been talking about it for a long time, except us,” Peyton Manning said. “I guess now it’s safe to talk about it.”
Manning shook off a slow start as he throw for 255 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he broke Johnny Unitas’ team record for career scoring passes in his first trip ever to North Carolina to play the Panthers. The Panthers were the last team Manning never beat before Sunday’s game.
The Panthers executed their game plan to perfect early as they took the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. DeShaun Foster capped the 18-play, 11 plus minute drive with a 3 yard TD run.
The opening possession tied a franchise record for plays in a scoring drive for the Panthers. The 11 plus minute drive was the longest this year in the NFL.
The Colts took their first lead at 10-7 on a two yard run by Joseph Addai in the second quarter and they outscored them 21-0 the rest of the way as the defending champions showed they no longer are a finesse team. Addai finished the game with 100 yards rushing and three touchdowns (2 rushing, 1 receiving).
The Colts are the first team in NFL history to win on the road on Monday night and follow that up with another road victory Sunday over a team coming off its bye week.
The Patriots tuned up for next week’s showdown in Indianapolis by destroying the Washington Redskins, 52-7, Sunday afternoon from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Tom Brady continued his ridiculously high level of play as he accounted for five touchdowns in the rout. Brady threw for 306 yards and three TD passes as the Patriots improved to 8-0 for the first time in franchise history. Brady also scored on a pair of short TD runs (2 and 3 yards) for the Patriots.
Halfway into the season, Brady already has a career-high 30 scoring passes. He extended his NFL record to eight games at the start of a season with at least three touchdown passes.
Washington avoided the shutout when Jason Campbell connected on a 15-yard scoring strike to TE Chris Cooley with 3 minutes left in the game.
By then most fans had left the stadium and changed into Red Sox gear as they rushed home to watch a possible World Series clinching game four Sunday night in Colorado.
The Patriots are playing at a level higher now than when they won three Super Bowl titles in a four year span starting with the 2001 campaign.
They’ve scored at least 34 points in each game and have won by at least 17 points. They’ve outscored opponents by an average of 40.5-15.1. The Colts margin is 32-14.6.
While the Patriots fans can look forward to next week’s showdown in Indianapolis, Washington fans have to be happy now that Joe Gibbs can concentrate on football full-time now that his NASCAR driver Tony Stewart has been eliminated from the chase.
The Redskins effort Sunday was pathetic to say the least as they rolled over and played dead from the opening kickoff as Tom Brady defeated the last team he had never beaten before Sunday.
Both Manning and Brady now have defeated every team in the NFL. Brett Favre can join that club next week if he leads the Packers to a road win over the Chiefs in Kansas City.
BIELEMA’S OFF THE HOT SEAT FOR NOW IN MADISON
October 27, 2007
It wasn’t pretty Saturday afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium but it was something Badgers fans haven’t seen in awhile - Wisconsin football. The Badgers pounded out 279 yards rushing on the ground as they rolled to a 33-3 win over Indiana.
The Badgers had played smash-mouth football for the past decade and a half under Barry Alvarez. Alvarez led the Badgers to three Big Ten and Rose Bowl championships en route to a 117-73-4 record. Alvarez retired as head coach of the Badgers after the 2005 season and he turned the reigns over to his defensive coordinator, Bret Bielema.
Bielema carried on the Wisconsin tradition last season as he ran his freshman stud P.J. Hill behind his mammoth offensive line as the Badgers rolled to a 12-1 record including a 17-14 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Capital One Bowl game in Orlando on January 1st.
The Badgers got off to a 5-0 start this season but they were far from impressive in those victories. They must’ve been fooling a lot of people across the country because both major polls had the Badgers ranked in the top five.
The Badgers were touting P.J. Hill as a Heisman Trophy candidate this season. Hill has not gotten on track this season due to several key losses on the Badgers offensive line. Hill has also had to deal with some nagging injuries in his sophmore season as he has yet to regain the form that made him the most explosive freshman running back in the nation last year.
Wisconsin abandoned the run way to early in a 31-26 loss to Illinois on the road and then they completely unraveled in a 38-7 thrashing at the hands of Penn State in Happy Valley the following week.
Bielema has done a better job establishing the run the last two games and the results are easy Wisconsin wins. Wisconsin recruits some of the best offensive lineman in the country each year. Why not use them? Every spring it always seems that NFL comes calling those talented offensive lineman. Take note Bret, if your offensive line is good enough to play in the NFL, their good enough to run behind all day and wear your opponents down in the Big Ten.
Bret, once you realize that just cause your down double digits in a game, doesn’t mean you have to air it out like you have Peyton Manning or Tom Brady as your quarterback. You have a first year starter in Tyler Donovan.
Go back and watch tapes of Alvarez’s championship teams. They pounded the ball down their opponents throats, down after down, to set up the big play passes to their talented wide receivers streaking down the sidelines.
The Badgers did a nice job Saturday running the ball against the Hoosiers even after Hill went down with a lower-leg injury in the first quarter. Backup Lance Smith picked up the slack with 79 yards on 15 carries, scoring twice in the second half to put the game out of reach. Zach Brown also had a nice day in the backfield as he ran for 40 yards on 14 carries.
The Badgers play their biggest game of the season next week as they travel to Ohio State to take on the top ranked Buckeyes. The Badgers have a golden opportunity to turn their season around with a win on the road.
The only way Wisconsin wins next week at Ohio State is if they play their kind of football (Smash Mouth). If Hill’s not getting the job down against the Buckeyes, don’t hesitate to go to your backup running backs. It’s a better option than letting Taylor air it out to his freshman receivers.
Next Week’s Prediction: #1 Ohio State 37, Wisconsin 17.
NFL PREDICTIONS WEEK 8 AGAINST THE SPREAD
October 26, 2007
The NFL enters week 8 with some intriguing matchups none better than the Steelers heading to Paul Brown Stadium to take on the Bengals in a huge AFC showdown.
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati has turned into one of the better feuds in the NFL the last few years, but it will be lacking a few things when the teams play each other for the first time this season.
The Steelers won’t have big mouth linebacker Joey Porter or coach Bill Cowher to rile up the Bengals, and Cincinnati won’t bring a winning record into the game.
The two teams were suppose to compete, along with the Baltimore Ravens, for the AFC North title. But the Bengals enter the game 2-4. The Steelers cling to a half-game lead in the AFC North on Baltimore and one game on the Cleveland Browns.
Pittsburgh once looked to be the No. 3 team in the division; instead, it’s taken the early lead. The Steelers can take a big step toward solidifying their hold on first the next three weeks because they play at Cincinnati and then are home to Baltimore and Cleveland.
Last season, the teams again split by winning in each other’s stadium, with Pittsburgh providing the knockout blow to Cincinnati’s playoff chances with an overtime victory in the final game of the season.
It’s crunch time in for the Bengals. The Bengals, coming of a 38-31 win over the NY Jets, have a chance to salvage their season with a victory over the first place Steelers.
The Bengals, considered by many to be a legite playoff contender with a chance to make a run deep in the playoffs, are playing in their second must win game of the season. If the Bengals play like they did in their first desperation game against Kansas City this year, they might as well start reserving tee-times on the day after their season finale against the Dolphins in Miami on December 30th. The Chiefs embarrassed the Bengals, 27-20, in a game not as close as the score indicated.
The Bengals might not make the playoffs this season but the team golf outing scheduled on New Year’s Eve in South Florida won’t be from lack of effort Sunday against the Steelers.
Look for Carson Palmer to have a big day hooking up with Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh as the Bengals win a wild one in Cincinnati, 37-31.
5 Star Pick of the Week (1-2): Indianapolis (-6 1/2) @ Carolina.
4 Star Picks of the Week (5-4): San Diego (-9 1/2) vs Houston, Chicago (-5) vs Detroit, NY Giants (-9 1/2) @ Miami (London).
Rest of the Week (14-13-2): St. Louis (+3) vs Cleveland, Tennessee (-7) vs Oakland, Philadelphia (-1) @ Minnesota, Cincinnati (+3 1/2) vs Pittsburgh, New York Jets (-3) vs Buffalo, Tampa Bay (-3 1/2) vs Jacksonville, New Orleans (-1) @ San Francisco, Washington (+17) @ New England, and Green Bay (+3) @ Denver.
These predictions are based on NFL lines posted at 9pm Central Time on Friday, October 26th.
GREEN BAY DEFENSE PACKS THE HEAT
October 25, 2007
The Green Bay Packers are off to a suprising 5-1 start this season and much of the credit is being given to the resurgence of Brett Favre, who at 38 still has plenty of zip left in his right arm.
With Favre and the pass-happy offense sputtering against the Washington Redskins on October 14th at Lambeau Field, it was the young, unheralded but quickly improving Packer defense that bailed the team out in a 17-14 win on a dreary day in Greeen Bay.
The only team with a better record than the Packers in the NFC are the Dallas Cowboys at 6-1. With the Cowboys not playing this weekend (bye), Green Bay can tie Dallas for the best conference record with a win Monday night in Denver.
With everyone focused on Favre’s record breaking performances this year and the Packers fast start, little attention is being paid to the heart and soul of this team, the defense.
Shutdown cornerbacks Al Harris and Charles Woodson are the cornerstones of one of the league’s rising defensive units. They help ease the burden on Favre and the NFL’s worst rushing offense, by clamping down on opposing receivers and helping turn the heat up on the opponents quarterback.
In a league dominated by Cover-2 type defenses, which are designed to prevent explosive passing plays, Harris and Woodson are defiant throwbacks.
They form arguably the best tandem practitioners of the ever increasingly lost art of the bump-and-run, press-man coverage.
Harris and Woodson have certainly lived up to the term “lockdown corners.” The dynamic duo this year has pretty much shut down every opponents aerial attack except for one game against the San Diego Chargers at home. How ironic that Favre and the offense had to bail the defense out in a 31-24 win at Lambeau.
The Packers secondary has been lights out this year. The average game day stats for a starting receiver against Green Bay this year is mind-boggling. Opposing receivers has averaged 2.2 receptions per game, for 34.1 yards per game, and 0.3 touchdowns.
Those numbers sound like the stats for the starting receivers of the hapless Miami Dolphins not the receivers that the Packers secondary has faced this year. Lining up opposite of Harris and Woodson have been the like of Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Vincent Jackson, Bernard Berrian, Muhsin Muhammad, Santana Moss, and James Thrash. Add All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates to the mix and the Packers have face some very good receiving tandems.
Green Bay’s shadow men thrive on getting their hands on receivers and throwing off their timing with their quarterbacks. They buy timee for a talented, swarming front seven to pressure quarterbacks, who are completing just 56.7% of the passes against Green Bay.
More impressive, the Packers are limiting opponents to a 34.5% third-down conversion rate, fifth best in the league.
All the talk in the league is that Champ Bailey and Dre’ Bly of the Broncos form the best cornerback combo. I’ll take Al “Operation Shutdown” Harris and Charles “Game Time” Woodson anytime over those clowns in Denver.
Bailey and Bly will need new jockstraps after Favre and company roll 34-20 Monday night in Denver. Green Bay clinches the game on a Woodson interception return late in the game as the Pack picks up a much needed win against a quality opponent on the road.
If Woodson and Harris are not in the Pro Bowl this coming February in Hawaii, it will be the biggest travesty in the Pro Bowl selections since Tony Romo of the Cowboys was voted into the Pro-Bowl last season.
DOLPHINS AND RAMS LOOK TO AVOID FUTILITY MARK.
October 24, 2007
In a season filled by surprises and record breaking performances so far, we may witness another first in the National Football league. The NFL has never had a team go undefeated and another winless since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
Here’s a thought to ponder for NFL fans. What is more difficult to do - win 16 games or lose 16 games in the regular season.
We actually have a chance to witness both feats this year. Heading into week 8, both New England and Indianapolis have not lost while St. Louis and Miami have yet to crack the win column.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only team since the NFL merger to lose every game in a single season. The Bucs set that futility mark in 1976, their first year in the NFL. The Bucs went 0-14.
I’ll give the Bucs the benefit of the doubt for some reason. They were an expansion team with low expectation for their first season in the league. I still find it hard to believe that a team can be so bad that they cannot even win one game in a season.
The Bucs had a couple of chances to win a game that year but most of the time they were getting pounded into the ground. Pittsburgh beat them by 42. The New York Jets pummeled them by 34. Four opponents put 40 plus up on the board against the Bucs, and they were shutout five times.
In short, the Bucs were pathetic.
The sad thing about the Dolphins and Rams is that both team had high expectations for this year. The Rams were expected to contend for the NFC West title while the Dolphins were looking to improve on their 6-10 mark in 2006 and possible contend for a wild card spot.
The Rams, billed as the Greatest Show on Turf, have scored only 79 points through seven games. That averages to just a little over 11 points per game. It was not to long ago that the Rams were scoring 11 points a quarter.
Its hard to call the Rams a bad team. That might be giving them to much credit. They are simple awful at home and even worse on the road. In four road games this season they have been outscored 114-19, producing one touchdown in 16 quarters.
The Dolphins pride themselves on defense. It wasn’t to long ago that the Phins had one of the best and most feared defenses in the league.
How times have changed in South Florida. In five of the Dolphins’ last six starts they have given up 30 or more points, including 41 to Cleveland and 49 to New England. I don’t expect to many NFL executives will be trying to steal the Phins defensive coordinator next year.
Back to my original question - which is harder? Going undefeated like the 1972 Dolphins or going winless like the 1976 Buccaneers.
I say that going undefeated is harder for two reasons. A lot of teams tend to rest players when they have secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs and the talent level drops off tremendously from the starters to the reserve players. Opposing teams also seem to get a little more jacked up for a game against an unbeaten team late in the season. They want to be the ones saying - we stopped the streak.
But that’s why going the opposite direction, why blowing 16 straight, is an achievement that deserves to be recognized. If it’s so hard to keep a team flying at 35,000 feet for 16 weeks — and we all agree it is — then it figures that sooner or later everyone is bound to fall into a win.
Teams tend to let up a little bit when they take on a winless opponent late in the year. They figure that the team has packed it in for year and all they have to do is show up for the win, and that doesn’t happen. There’s a lot of pride in the NFL and no team wants to be associated with the 1976 Bucs.
Remember, this is a league where the buzzword is parity, and parity is what we reached last season when 20 teams were 8-8 or better.
The Dolphins and the Rams are not the only bad teams in the NFL this year - they just are the only winless teams. There are probably upward to ten teams that have no shot at reaching the playoffs this year.
That is why making it 0-16 is worth talking about. It’s tough. It’s improbable. And it could happen.
NFL POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 7
October 23, 2007
The Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots both registered impressive road wins over the weekend to remain undefeated. The Patriots clobbered the winless Dolphins, 49-28, while the Colts took care of the injury-riddled Jaguars, 29-7.
The Colts have quietly started the season 6-0 but nobody is paying any attention to the defending world champions and thats just fine with them.
The Colts might not be putting up the high-flying circus numbers that Brady and that crew are, numbers Indy has put up in the past, but it’s quite apparent that this year’s Colts team is better than the 2006 version — and quite the challenger to the Patriots in the AFC, even if many aren’t noticing.
Go ahead and talk about New England,” Colts receiver Reggie Wayne said. “That’s less we have to worry about, less people in our locker room. We know what we have to do each week, which is win games. It’s cool. But one thing is we’ve been in this situation when nobody is talking about us. They can have it. They deserve it. They’re balling. But there’s going to be a time when you talk about us. It’s going to come soon enough.”
It’s hard to imagine a defending Super Bowl champ being unbeaten after six games and still not getting much attention.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Dolphins and Rams remain winless on the season and if they play like they did Sunday the rest of the season, the National Football league will have two winless teams for the first time in its history.
The Dolphins defense had the deer in the headlights look Sunday against the Patriots offense. New England led 42-7 at halftime and the only fans left at Dolphin Stadium at the end were young Bill Belichick fans. They probably had the next day off of school after getting caught cheating on mid-semester exams. Tell them Bill it only hurts if you get caught.
Things go from bad to worse for the Dolphins, who lost running back Ronnie Brown for the rest of the season because of a knee injury.
Brown has been one of the few bright spots in Miami’s bleak season. Coming into Sunday’s game, he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage and had reached the 100-yard rushing mark for four consecutive games. Brown had 76 yards rushing against the Patriots on 17 carries, and had five receptions for 33 yards.
The Dolphins are off to an 0-7 start for the first time in their 42 seasons. They travel to London this week to face the New York Giants in the first regular-season NFL game outside North America.
The Rams (0-7) are off to their worst start in the 70-year history of their franchise after they were crunched, 33-6, Sunday in Seattle.
The Rams welcomed back Marc Bulger to the offense in a way no one should ever be welcomed.
With lead runner Steven Jackson out for the fourth consecutive game with a partially torn groin, the Rams had to rely on the passing of Bulger. And Seattle knew it.
The Pro Bowl quarterback, playing for the first time in three weeks with sore ribs, was sacked seven times. Four were by Darryl Tapp, who played the final three quarters with a boxing-like glove over a broken bone in his right hand. Bulger fumbled three times, lost two, and finished 21-for-40 for 225 yards passing with three interceptions.
I feel sorry right now for fans of the Dolphins and Rams. At least fans in Miami are a week away from Shaq and D-Wade returning to the hardfloors. This will help ease the pain of having to watch the Dolphins play each weekend.
St. Louis fans aren’t as fortunate as the only thing they got going in the winter months is their hockey team, the Blues. Its hard to say that a team can be worse than the Rams but the Blues are pretty close to matching the futility of the football team.
Look at the bright side Rams fans, the Blues have already won a game this season and spring training is only four months away for the Cardinals.
1. Indianapolis (6-0), 2. New England (7-0), 3. Pittsburgh (4-2), 4. New York Giants (5-2), 5. Dallas (6-1), 6. Green Bay (5-1), 7. San Diego (3-3), 8. Washington (4-2), 9. Baltimore (4-3), 10. Tennessee (4-2), 11. Detroit (4-2), 12. Seattle (4-3), 13. Jacksonville (4-2), 14. Tampa Bay (4-3), 15. Carolina (4-2), 16. Chicago (3-4), 17. Denver (3-3), 18. Kansas City (4-3), 19. Philadelphia (2-4), 20. Arizona (3-4), 21. New Orleans (2-4), 22. Minnesota (2-4), 23. Houston (3-4), 24. Cleveland (3-3), 25. Buffalo (2-4), 26. Cincinnati (2-4), 27. Oakland (2-4), 28. San Francisco (2-4), 29. New York Jets (1-6), 30. Atlanta (1-6), 31. St. Louis (0-7), 32. Miami (0-7).
COLTS REMAIN UNBEATEN AFTER CRUSHING JAGUARS
October 22, 2007
The Indianapolis Colts exercised the demons of last year as they walked into their house of horrors and opened a can of ass-whooping on the upstart Jaguars Monday night in Jacksonville.
Last season the Colts gave up a franchise record 375 yards rushing in a 44-17 loss to Jacksonville.
Monday night’s game was a complete opposite of last years debacle as the Colts dominated the game from the opening kickoff in cruising to a 29-7 win. The Colts held the Jaguars to a 117 yards rushing as they improved to 6-0 on the season.
Indianapolis is the third team in NFL history to start three seasons with six or more consecutive wins. The Colts have won 40 of their last 47 regular season games. The last team to match the Colts regular season dominance was the Chicago Bears of the mid-1980’s.
Peyton Manning, making his 150 consecutive regular season start, threw for 259 yards and a touchdown as the Colts swept their divisional rivals on the road this year. The Colts beat the Titans 22-20 in Tennessee and they defeated the Texans 30-24 at Houston in their other divisional road games.
Indianapolis improved to 3-0 in the division and left Jacksonville (4-2), Tennessee (4-2), and Houston (3-4) in the all-too-familiar chase mode. The Colts have captured the last four AFC South division titles.
The knock on the Colts headed into the season was that they lost to many players in free agency to make a serious run at defending their Super Bowl title. Add in the retirement of All-Pro offensive lineman,Terik Glenn, and nobody was giving the Colts a chance to make it back to the Super Bowl.
Its time for America and the rest of the world to open their eyes and realize that there is another outstanding team in the National Football League besides the New England Patriots.
The Colts are bigger, stronger, faster, more disciplined and simply better than they were during last year’s championship run.
The Colts led 17-0 at halftime and by the time Manning hit tight end Dallas Clark with a 35 yard touchdown pass with 3:59 left, the Jaguars had pretty much conceded the game and many of the fans attending the game were outside in the parking lot drowning their sorrows with heavy doses of Bud Light.
The Colts have a trap game next week at Carolina (4-2). The Panthers are in first place in the NFC South and riding a two game winning streak.
The Panthers lost QB Jake Delhomme for the season and they started 43-year old Vinny Testaverde against the Cardinals on October 14th at Arizona. The Panthers rolled the Cards 25-10.
The Panthers might have David Carr back at quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Colts. In all reality it doesn’t matter who starts at QB for the Panthers as they will be rolled by the Colts. Indy wins the game by double digits.
If New England (7-0) keeps its end of the bargain up and beats Washington (4-2) at home next weekend, it will set up an unbeaten showdown between the Patriots and Colts for league supremacy the following weekend in Indianapolis.
Early-Bird Special: Indianapolis 34, New England 31. (Have a good flight back home Belichick)!!